Only one in four leading civil servants women in Finland
A study by Helsingin Sanomat has found that men overwhelmingly dominate the highest state civil servants’ positions in Finland. Only one in four leading civil servants are women. In other leadership positions, one third are women, and the split is about 50-50 among all personnel in the civil service.
The very top level of officialdom - the chiefs of staff who lead the ministries - three out of 13 - 23 percent - are women.
When second-level civil servants - section chiefs and undersecretaries of state are included, there are 61 men and 23 women - 27 per cent of the total.
At the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Finance as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, there are no female department heads.
At the Ministry of Justice all department heads are men, but this is balanced somewhat by the fact that the ministry has a woman as its chief of staff.
At the beginning of next year, the Ministry of Trade and Industry will lose its only female department head, Paula Nybergh, the provisional head of the Technology Department, who will be replaced by Petri Peltonen.
If administrative units that operate under the authority of the chiefs of staff are included, only the Ministry of Defence has no women at all, while the Ministry of Education can be seen as the one with the greatest gender equality in Finland - eclipsing even the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, which is actually responsible for equality issues.
Also doing better than the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health are the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Prime Minister.
The most staunchly male-dominated ministries at this level as well are the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which nevertheless has a woman, Ritva Viljanen, as its chief of staff.
While women rarely hold top administrative positions at government ministries, they do often get general administrative duties of personnel management and finances.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 17.11.2006 - TODAY |
 Only one in four leading civil servants women in Finland |
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